I was bit surprised recently to see an email in my inbox from Bill Berry, aka BopBagBill. Berry currently has work up in the new ASU Night Gallery in Tempe, but he is teaching at Silpakorn University in Bangkok, so the extra effort in reaching out to cover his AZ show impressed me.
Bill Berry did his undergrad work at ASU, then went on to get his MFA at UC Davis. What had started as sculpture studies migrated to intermedia work at the California school, and his work since then has incorporated photography and his very own iconic character: BopBagBill. A bop bag is an inflatable about four feet tall, shaped like a bowling pin, and weighted at the bottom. Made popular in the 1950’s with clown faces topping the balloon, the bop bag has been a kid’s punching bag character that offered interactive home sports opportunities ages before Nintendo. Bill Berry has used a bop bag emblazoned with his own shape, often in the dozens, as a silent witness to catastrophy around the world. His new series remembers
The third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by showing photos of BopBagBill sitting in the remains of Louisiana swimming pools, and again in the pools of luxury resorts in Southern Thailand after the recent Tsunami. Evidently, the pools were almost the only thing to survive the winds and water in each place.
Berry called up and talked briefly about being an American artist in Asia.
How do the students take to your use of inflatables in photographs?
Bill Berry: They really don’t question authority here, everyone is very pleasant, but yes, it’s a bit strange. The school was started by an Italian, Corrado Feroci, in the ‘40’s. He was a sculptor who made a lot of the royal monuments, and fell in love with the country. He even changed his name to Silpa Bhirasi when he became a Thai citizen. The school is very traditional, more interested in Renaissance period artforms than conceptual art or video. The kids study for years trying to get their portfolios good enough to get in, it’s the main art university in the country. So, when I take the bop bag around and make pictures, yes, it’s a bit different than carving stone. Actually, I’ve never evenr worked in plaster, much less made bronzes.
You’ve shown in Korea, how did that compare to where you are now, or Tempe, for that matter?
Bill Berry: On the whole, neither place is very open to selling art by entry level or mid-career foreign artists. But in Korea, that’s nothing special. I mean, you don’t
Even see Nokia cell phones- everythings Sanyo…
So, no Toyotas or Fords?
Bill Berry: Exactly; all Korean stuff. If you see Western art in a gallery, it’s got to be a big name, like Nam June Paik, who was American…
…but born in Korea?
Bill Berry: Right.
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